Sound Development City Artist Expedition 2016 � Madrid–CasablancaSeptember 6–25, 2016

Dan AllonVisiting the Ghosts of Mrs Swissa

Documentation

land. The expedition format was developed in collabora-tion with Heller Enterprises, a Swiss agency for cultural projects. Sound Development City is financed by Sound Development and put into practice by Heller Enterprises.

Artist Expedition 2016

On September 6, 2016, a group of twelve artists from ten countries, four team members, one expedition writer and one radio editor embarked on an expedition to Madrid and Casablanca. For the first time in its five-year history, the Sound Development City expedition ventured be-yond the confines of Europe and into Africa. The artists were selected out of a total of 424 appli-cants from 66 countries by an international jury consisting of Hassan Darsi (La Source du Lion, Casablanca), Esther Eppstein (Message Salon, Zurich), Martin Heller (Hel-ler Enterprises, Zurich), Gianmarco Marchetta (Sound Development, Zurich) and Gema Melgar (Matadero Ma-drid/El Ranchito, Madrid). The evaluation was based on artistic quality and originality, feasibility of realisation as well as the research-based approach of the project propos-als. The applicants’ inquisitive personality was also taken into consideration. The twelve artists formed a heterogeneous group, coming from such diverse disciplines as animation film, dance, intermedia art, sound art and music. During Sound Development City, they worked on ten projects that fol-lowed a wide range of subjects and narrative lines.

About Sound Development City

Sound Development City is a three-week artist expedi-tion to two annually changing cities. The expedition crew consists of a dozen artists coming from different geograph-ical, cultural and artistic backgrounds. They are selected through an open call for projects that is geared towards artists who distinguish themselves through a process- oriented approach to their work, their curiosity and an ex-plorative mindset. Sound Development City is a place for artistic re-search and concepts which benefit from being on the road and probe urban environments as sites of both playfulness and social involvement. Here, working theses can be exam-ined, new project ideas or forms of expression can be tried out and bold visions can be put into practice. The expedi-tion offers freedom of choice and action, without the pres-sure of measurable results — a strong focus is placed on process and on daring ideas. While the expedition’s target cities serve as reso-nating urban space, as work material, sources of inspira-tion and playgrounds for public presentations, the expe-dition creates a fertile soil for exchange, reflection and cooperation. Sound Development City is also an inward journey to personal thought and work patterns, which are challenged and maybe even realigned through the expe-rience of the unknown and the unpredictable. Sound Development City is a project by Sound Development, a non-commercial, independent and pri-vately funded cultural initiative based in Zurich, Switzer-

and the unfamiliar working situation, and especially to-wards each other. They arrived with verve, curiosity and a readiness to take risks, and they preserved this spirit until the last moment. They engaged with the previously un-known cities and their inhabitants, looking for a breeding ground for their projects and research, which they found again and again in various forms. And they endured the unknown and the “not knowing” and adapted their con-cepts to become reality step by step by coming up with new ideas, sensoria and tools. Through it all, the expedition grew organically to become a dense experiential space and a shared creative journey. The agenda, which had purposely been left blank from the beginning, was steadily filled with spontaneous public as well as internal activities that peaked on the second last day in Casablanca: during the Expedition Dis-coveries, all participants presented insights into their working processes. On September 26, Sound Development City end-ed on the rooftop terrace of La Parallèle in Casablanca in a comfortable temperature and with emotional words. A group of unknown individuals that had started a jour-ney on an extremely hot day in Madrid had become a com-munity of like-minded people saying goodbye with heavy hearts.

The first seven days were spent in Madrid, the last eight in Casablanca. The journey in-between, which the artists undertook individually by land and by sea, from one continent to the other, was an integral part of the ex-pedition; it served as a shift in the working process and of-fered time for reflection and further research. In Madrid, the expedition set up its headquarters at the artist-run space Nadie, Nunca, Nada, No. — re-ferred to as NNNN — and in Casablanca at the school and art space La Parallèle. In Madrid, two of the artists had the chance to make use of a gallery space, La Juan; the expedition’s participants also worked with the infrastruc-ture of the self-managed cultural centre Tabacalera. These venues served as workspaces and places for presentations, rehearsals and workshops but also — especially in Casa-blanca — as oases in the midst of foreign lands. In both cities, the expedition was supported by dedicated local teams — fairy godmothers — that provid-ed access to the local art scene, collaborators, hidden cor-ners and vibrant spots. Through them, the group was wel-comed with open arms, was immediately introduced to cultural peculiarities and had access to the cities’ rough edges and abysses, sweet spots and beauty. Sound Development City 2016 was strongly impacted by the paralyzing heat of Madrid and the pow-erful cultural diversity of Casablanca. But more than that, it was each artist’s single-minded dedication that formed the expedition and made it a rich, unforgettable and suc-cessful adventure. From the very beginning the twelve participants overwhelmed us with their openness towards the format

The content found in the following pages comes mostly from these sources, while certain reflections, Uwe Lützen’s essay and Andreas Oskar Hirsch’s travelogue were added after the fact.

Participants & Projects

Dan Allon IL

Visiting the Ghosts of Mrs SwissaVincent Charlebois CA

NodesBernadette La Hengst DE

Café EuropaSasha Kurmaz UA

Untitled Ari-Pekka Leinonen FI

I Am Helping My Friend to Think — My Friend Is Helping Me to IdleLuka & Jela RS

We’ll Leave Pieces of Madrid on Our Road to CasablancaBrent Meistre ZA

Draad Trek (Pull Wire)Agnieszka Pędziwiatr & Rafał Pierzyński PL

DIVAS Youmna Saba LB

1.2 Seconds Ago — Travelling NotesChris Wood UK

Walking with Satellites

Documentation

To document these — sometimes fleeting — moments, thoughts and artistic experiments, the Sound Develop-ment City website served as a multi-voiced logbook by channelling content from various authors and sources: texts, sketches, snippets, photos, sound pieces, radio inter-views and videos added up to become a collective expedi-tion diary. The artists documented their work, their expe-riences and reflections and offered insight into ongoing processes. Author Uwe Lützen accompanied the group as an expedition writer. His mission was to watch and listen, to travel with the group and to document the artists’ work. During the expedition he published notes, articles and personal observations on the Sound Development City website, which after the journey he processed into an essay that can be read in this book. The Sound Development City team created a daily photo journal. Radio interviews with the artists and with local cultural activists were produced together with artist and 2014 expedition participant Andreas Oskar Hirsch. These were broadcast on the expedition’s online 24/7 web radio, the Gap Station. Last but not least, the expedition was accompa-nied by local photographers Jonay PMatos in Madrid and Zakaria Wakrim in Casablanca, both of whom captured the expedition’s atmosphere and the artists’ work through their lenses.

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Dan Allon

Visiting the Ghosts of

Mrs Swissa

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Usually, I use my biography or things that happen to me or to people I know, and use it as a basis to rewrite and then make a story that is half true and half not. I would say it’s very influenced by TV comedy. And most of the time it’s funny and humoristic, but it also has a dark side. I like to use my own biography, be-cause then … I guess it makes the most sense to other people. They believe the story, somehow. And they also start question-ing the story, and me, and themselves.Excerpt Gap Station interview

Dan Allon, his aunt Rachel and his father Shimon performing The Bar Mitzva, July 2016, Alfred Institute of Art, Tel Aviv

Mrs Swissa is my grandmother’s maiden name. She was from Casablanca. In Madrid and Casablanca I’m pretending to be in-vestigating her life story. My grandmother was born in Casablanca. After she got married, she went to live in a city called Settat, where my dad and most of the children were born. Settat is like the capital of agri-culture, and my grandfather worked in the cooperative. They didn’t have a high school there, so when my dad started high school, he was sent to Casablanca, where he lived for several years. My grandmother also lived in Madrid in her youth. All Moroccan Jews are called “Spaniards”, people from Spain. They have a lot of food, culture, music, colours, aesthetic vision. It’s a mixture between Berber-Moroccan and Spanish and sometimes even French. So it’s very diverse culturally. Compared to the minimal number of stories I have about Casablanca from my

Dan Allon explores the connection between his father’s family history, originating in the Jewish parts of Madrid and Casablan-ca, along with the concept of patriarchy — both in the context of family and throughout the traditions of Spain and Morocco — and the cultural connections between the two cities. The artis-tic research includes collecting material in sound, images and text, and adding existing material to it, such as family documents and photos. Dan Allon mixes different roles — the artist, the tourist and the explorer on a family quest — while encountering and en-gaging with merchants, locals, workers, restaurant owners and others, creating a colourful, generous and humoristic portrait of the two cities, the road that connects them, as well as his own family. A story unfolds through interweaving documentary and fictional material.

SDC What do you bring to the expedition?DA I bring to the expedition three metaphorical hats. The personal hat: That’s the hat of the family historian. I have dozens of stories revolving around my father’s family in Spain, Morocco and Israel from the 1940s to 1965. The Moroc-can community is one of the largest ethnic groups in Israel; therefore, their general narrative is significant. I would bring those stories with me, use them and compare them with the real-ity as I find it while journeying in Spain and Morocco. The aesthetic hat: In addition to stories, I also work with colours and shapes, and I am particularly drawn to human por-traits and characters, and their surroundings. I would bring my ability to transform that sensual information into an aesthetic experience, something between an intellectual level and an emo-tional level. I am planning to collect all the colours, sounds, shapes and scents and create art using them. The touristic hat: I bring my natural curiosity for detail, facts, languages and social customs, and I collect bits of informa-tion and add them to the pot. I am looking forward to mixing these three hats in such a way that I or the spectator can’t even detect where one of the roles ends and another starts.Excerpt artist Q&A

I think art is a way to understand culture, and a way to transcend cultural differences and difficulties.Excerpt artist Q&A

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Oh, My Love, You’re So Handsome; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

Franco Is Dead; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

I was not sure which medium I would work in, but somehow the process brought me to use drawing, which I find, in my practice lately, very refreshing. It helps emphasise the imaginary part in the narrative and unify the static impact of it — it’s black-and-white, on paper, and they are all the same size.

dad and from my grandmother, about my grandmother’s time in Madrid I have no stories at all. That’s where Franco comes in, because it also made sense in thinking in terms of dictatorship or, let’s say, the father of the nation, on the one hand. And on the other hand, during the time my grandmother lived in Madrid, he was the leader. Excerpt Gap Station interview

Had my passport scanned twice — and still no sign of Franco! Posted 8.9.2016

There is a Jewish-Moroccan saying that goes, “We cooked for the king.” Everybody cooked for the king, apparently, which is, of course, completely not true. But this is what they say. I think the meaning of it is to say that they had a very good relationship with the king. I thought it was very interesting to pretend that my grand-mother had cooked for Franco … Of course, she had nothing to do with Franco, but the image of Franco as what he represented. And at the time, it makes sense for that narrative, and what it says on how the Moroccan family functions — the roles of the wife and the husband, and how the children behave, and how they, later, raise a person like me. Excerpt Gap Station interview

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Pop-Up ExhibitionVisiting the Ghosts of Mrs Swissa (Part I): September 11, 2016: 7:00 pm: NNNN, Madrid

Dan Allon’s father grew up in Morocco as a de-scendant of a Spanish family. For Visiting the Ghosts of Mrs Swissa (Part I), Dan Allon mixes images from his father’s family album and images of dictatorships from the two countries. Inspired by black-and-white photos, the drawings blend into one scenario, reveal-ing an intimate look into the family life under a fiction-al dictatorship.

Posted 10.9.2016

Playing the Bandir; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

I’ve always drawn, but for the last three to four years I ne-glected the medium for other art forms. But I kept creating it, hundreds of drawings, actually. I felt it was not the right time and place to show them on their own, but during the expedition it felt so right and so free. In addition, using the method of a pho-to album allowed me to work with a new style. I have never drawn like this before. For me, drawing is collecting images and creating an inter-pretation through my hand. That’s, for me, the least planned part of my brain. It’s more intuitive. I trust my hand to do the work.Excerpt Gap Station interview

It has a general vibe, it has a general zone that I limit myself to. It is less conceptual and more image oriented. I started with this title, Visiting the Ghosts of Mrs Swissa. That’s a sentence I liked. And now I’m making an assembly of images that I feel suit that sentence. Maybe it doesn’t make sense to everybody, because it’s not a followable story, but it’s more fragments of narratives that come together in a unified format.Excerpt Gap Station interview

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Father; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

Sitting in the Casablanca café my father used to go to every day as a young man Posted 18.9.2016

I’m quite interested in the fact that I can walk the same streets my family did. This also happened to me this year and last year in Ger-many, which is where my mother’s family is from. My grandfather was from Leipzig, and I went there. It’s also a very old city. And it’s like, “OK, I’m passing by this building, and he probably did too.” It’s a weird sensation, but it also helps. It’s all coming together. Excerpt Gap Station interview

I don’t know any street. I have never been to Casablanca. I don’t know anybody here. But all of them look like my uncles, and their gestures, the way they look at you, the way they walk, the way they speak to each other, the smell of everything is, like, “Yeah, that makes sense”. Excerpt Gap Station interview

What?! Franco Is Dead?!; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

Mrs Swissa Is Dying of a Broken Heart; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

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Mrs Swissa’s Last Days Before Reuniting with Her Beloved Franco; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

Bonding with the King; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

Café Place Vedun; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

What’s interesting about my grandmother’s story is that it’s not about her so much as about her being a part of a cultural chain; she’s a part of a bigger story, a narrative of many people, and I use her to give my take on that narrative. I think it’s also a very interesting part of that story that they were forced — not forced but, let’s say, heavily convinced — to move to Israel, and not just them but a lot of North African Jews. They moved there, and they basically had nothing. That affect-ed their life severely and their entire generation as well. It’s still a very big issue in Israeli politics, a big debate, a big dispute, a big fight. It’s a thing, an electoral thing. People vote because of this. So it’s crazy that this political thing happened to my grand-mother and to my father, and through that it also happened to me. Excerpt Gap Station interview

Art can give a voice to things that are sometimes impossible to speak about.

Excerpt Gap Station interview

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My Berber soul is happy.Posted 21.9.2016

Apparently there are more Jewish-Moroccan relics in Ashdod (Israel) than in Casablanca! Posted 23.9.2016

I Am Coming, My Love; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

Did You Hear Mom Died the Same Way Franco Did?!; ink on paper, 32 × 24 cm, 2016

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ern on the Eastern culture. I wore traditional Moroccan clothes, and the room was equipped with some ready-made and bought materials, such as a carpet and a tea kettle — creating a “familiar” atmosphere and an “accurate” scenario. The drawings were part of the surroundings, adding fictional aspects to the scenario. For this performance, as in some recent works, I held to the principle of being silent, quite the opposite of typical Moroccan hospitality. This created tension and stress within the situation, as my guests started getting uncomfortable, guessing what might be going on in my head. They sat, drank tea and wished it was over. Excerpt follow-up notes

Humour is the overall tool for me. Humour enables you to deal with things you can’t really say directly. Excerpt Gap Station interview

Solo Exhibition Curated by Sharon TovalFeel at Home but Don’t Forget It’s My Home: November through December 2016 : Gabirol Gallery, Tel Aviv

This exhibition shows a heterotopic, partly au-tobiographical, partly made-up archive, constructed of three room-size, site-specific installations and one performance space. Those artworks embody in their perception places of being, mixing truth and false-hood, reality and imagination, the personal and the public, interior and exterior. Continuing his research on theatrical happenings and personal conflicts of an artist versus collective ethical norms, this exhibition shows an ambivalent attitude towards making peace with those themes. Is it a personal archive? Where does it become collective? Can the blurring position between interior and exterior take an objective stand?

Excerpt from the exhibition text by Sharon Toval

Visiting the Ghosts of Mrs Swissa (Part II). A performance dur-ing the Expedition Discoveries event. Hotel Central, room 103, Casablanca, September 24, 2016.

Emphasising the performative aspects of the story, I created an imaginary scenario in my hotel room. Guests were invited to join me, one by one, for tea and music. The music included a song about an orphan, and another about the influence of the West-

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The exhibition in Tel Aviv that I was invited to after Sound De-velopment City is a natural extension of the experience in Mo-rocco and Spain for me. It would not have turned out the same otherwise, as I integrated many influences from the expedition: The music used was from Casablanca, and the entrance was part-ly shaped through conversations I had had regarding Moroccan culture. My performance is also directly influenced by what I developed for Hotel Central, while the atmosphere of the room is inspired by men’s pubs, especially the one we visited during the last night in Casablanca. Excerpt follow-up notes

I can edit my biography and make it collective. That’s the power of art, that I can pretend to be me. Quote for the exhibition at Gabirol Gallery

Biography Dan Allon IL

*1982Dan Allon is an Israeli-born artist based in Berlin. He holds a postgraduate diplo-ma in Fine Arts from Hamidrasha Faculty of the Arts and a bachelor in Visual Com-munication from Shenkar College. His work spreads to various mediums, such as drawing, installation, performance, sound and graphic novels. In his artistic practice, he puts himself on stage, using his life as a humoristic base to create experiences and stories for the spectator, questioning the practice of art and social conventions. � danallon.com

We now intend to bring the project to an end with the 2016 Sound Develop-ment City expedition to Madrid and Casablanca. We can look back on a rewarding time, great encounters and remarkable projects, and we thank all the participants who have contributed to the character and lasting success of Sound Develop-ment City. Special thanks go to Heller Enter-prises, in particular Martin Heller, Gesa Schneider, Andalus, Nicholas Schärer — and the project director and producer, Duscha Kistler, without whose commit-ment the project in this form would not have been possible.� sound-development.com

Sound Development Sound Development is an independent cultural initiative based in Zurich. It was founded by Nia Schmidheiny in 2002. She thus extended the definition of how her family had been supporting the arts for generations. Sound Development’s general ob-jective has been to inspire and support art-ists through practical experience, to pro-vide knowledge and contacts as well as to connect people and artists. The pro-motional efforts were based on different projects, such as Music Apartment or LofiDogma, realised as in-house and co- productions. Sound Development has also been interested in alternative forms of art and cultural promotion. The combination of non-commer-cial orientation and private funding has allowed the freedom and flexibility need-ed for an uncompromising implementa-tion, independent from formal concepts and with an open mind for new methods and strategies.

Sound Development City was one of Sound Development’s major projects and was created in collaboration with Heller Enterprises. Sound Development want-ed to give selected international artists a platform and the opportunity to realise trans-disciplinary projects. Personal en-counters and collaborative work played a key role in developing new ideas — away from academic or institutional settings. The artist expedition format offered exact-ly the space and time to do research and to develop a project — without necessarily targeting a final product. Over five years and five expeditions, Heller Enterprises and Sound Develop-ment have supported international artists to discover new directions and establish new contacts.

Gema Melgar Matadero Madrid/El Ranchito, Madrid

Expedition WriterUwe Lützen

HeadquartersNadie, Nunca, Nada, No.Calle Amparo 94, MadridLa Parallèle1 Rue Abou Al Mahassine Royani, Casablanca

Local Partners MadridTabacalera, Centro SocialLa Juan GalleryLa Casa EncendidaFantompower

Local Partners CasablancaAssociation CasamémoireBoultek & EAC L’BoulevartGoethe InstitutHotel CentralInstitut français de CasablancaRacinestlbb MagazineLe Vertigo

Project ManagementDuscha Kistler Project Director & ProducerAndalusProject Director Nicholas Schärer Communications Andreas Oskar HirschRadio Editor & Mothership PilotAnna Katharina ThalerIntern

Production Partners Hubertus DesignDesignAstrom/ZimmerWebsite Cristina AngladaAna Martínez Production & Communication — Madrid Imane BarakatSofiane Benkhassala Production & Communication — Casablanca Jonay PMatos Photographer — Madrid Zakaria Wakrim Photographer — Casablanca

Imprint PublicationHeller EnterprisesConcept Duscha KistlerEditor Nicholas Schärer Editorial Assistant Hubertus DesignDesignCaslon SDCTypefaceGobi Design Recycling MattSirio Color SabbiaHolmen TRND 2.0PaperMarjeta MorincLithographyMartin della Valle (Textmax GmbH)Translator & Copy Editor (except “Expedition Observations”)Druckerei Odermatt AG PrintingAn der Reuss AGBinding

Imprint Sound Development CityIdea & ConceptSound DevelopmentHeller Enterprises

RealisationHeller Enterprises Responsible: Martin Heller

Sound Development City 2016Participants & ProjectsDan Allon IL

Visiting the Ghosts of Mrs SwissaVincent Charlebois CA NodesBernadette La Hengst DE

Café EuropaSasha Kurmaz UA

Untitled Ari-Pekka Leinonen FI

I Am Helping My Friend to Think — My Friend Is Helping Me to IdleLuka & Jela RS

We’ll Leave Pieces of Madrid on Our Road to CasablancaBrent Meistre ZA

Draad Trek (Pull Wire)Agnieszka Pędziwiatr & Rafał Pierzyński PL

DIVAS Youmna Saba LB

1.2 Seconds Ago — Travelling NotesChris Wood UK

Walking with Satellites

JuryHassan DarsiLa Source du Lion, CasablancaEsther Eppstein Message Salon, ZurichMartin Heller Heller Enterprises, ZurichGianmarco Marchetta Sound Development, Zurich

Index of ImagesDan Allon12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 Sofiane Benkhassala 21 Dafna Gazit 11 Uwe Lützen21 Goni Riskin24 Nicholas Schärer14 Zakaria Wakrim17, 22

Thank youJuan Gómez AlemánShimon AllonMiryam AllonAna AraHicham BahouFred BenWalid BendraIbrahim BennaniChedouane BensalmiaDounia BenslimaneEnrique BorrajerosAriel BustamanteLucia Casani FraileJulio CubillosFriedrich DahlhausFanny DalmauFlorence DarsiLaura FernándezZony GómezAbdellah M. HassakGhassan El HakimNadir HouboubPekka LeinonenFlorence Jardin-LorigAbdellah El KhaljaniMehdi Filali KhessouaneLukatoyboy

Tarek El MaarifMoisés MartinClara Martin GascoChus MartinezPablo MartinezRamón MateosRaisa MauditMss AtiAgent PJudith PalaciosMarta RincónMaria SantosRosmery Schoenborn Manuel Segade LodeiroYassine SkhounSamba SoumbounouJulia StrebelowSoufiane TotoSharon TovalAlonzo VasquezSaï YaCineMohcine ZouitinaAll workshop participants, collaborators, guests and newly found friends

Special ThanksNia SchmidheinyGabriel BachmannEveryone in the Sound Development team

Linkssound-development-city.comProject Website sound-development.comSound Development hellerenter.chHeller Enterprises

© 2017 Sound Development and the authors

Dan AllonVincent CharleboisBernadette La HengstSasha KurmazAri-Pekka LeinonenLuka & JelaBrent MeistreAgnieszka Pędziwiatr & Rafał PierzyńskiYoumna SabaChris Wood